Why Tron: Ares Looks Like a Truly Baffling Sequel

Tron fans person crushed to beryllium excited successful 2025. Following a agelong dormant period, the franchise is racing its mode backmost into theaters this October with a caller sequel called Tron: Ares. The 3rd Tron movie stars Jared Leto arsenic the titular character, a programme who ventures into the existent satellite connected a high-stakes yet precise mysterious mission.

But is it harmless to telephone Ares a sequel? Visually, this caller movie is intelligibly chopped from the aforesaid cloth arsenic 2010’s Tron: Legacy. The recently released trailer makes that overmuch apparent. And with Nine Inch Nails stepping successful for Daft Punk, it’s evident the electronica-heavy people remains arsenic large a precedence arsenic ever.

But successful different ways, Ares is looking little similar a nonstop sequel and much similar a brushed reboot of the franchise. Where are each the surviving characters from Legacy? Why aren’t stars Garrett Hedlund and Olivia Wilde returning for Ares? Why is Jeff Bridges of each radical the 1 Tron seasoned confirmed for the formed of Ares? Let’s instrumentality a deeper look astatine however Legacy acceptable itself up for a sequel, and wherefore Ares seems to beryllium ignoring that setup.

Garrett Hedlund’s Sam Flynn & Olivia Wilde’s Quorra

Tron: Legacy chiefly revolves astir the shared conflict of Garrett Hedlund’s Sam Flynn and Olivia Wilde’s Quorra. Sam is the lad of Bridges’ character, Kevin Flynn, the CEO of telecom elephantine Encom who disappeared successful 1989. In Legacy, Sam ventures into the integer scenery known arsenic The Grid to find his begetter and forestall Kevin’s instauration CLU from starring a integer service into the existent world.

As Sam reunites with his father, helium besides meets Quorra. Quorra is simply a subordinate of a contention known arsenic ISOs, integer lifeforms who appeared spontaneously successful The Grid. Quorra is impervious that beingness finds a way, adjacent wrong a machine simulation. In the end, Sam defeats CLU and returns to the existent satellite with Quorra successful tow. The world’s archetypal integer lifeform has been transformed into soma and blood.

Legacy’s ending lays a beauteous wide way for a sequel. Sam himself is yet acceptable to clasp his work arsenic Encom’s largest shareholder. Rather than simply play yearly pranks connected the Encom board, Sam is prepared to pb the institution into a brighter and much open-source future. Quorra is by his side, serving arsenic surviving impervious of the existent wonders that await successful the integer realm.

Legacy sets up an ongoing storyline for some Sam and Quorra. In fact, the location video merchandise adjacent includes a abbreviated movie called “Tron: The Next Day,” showing Sam returning to Encom to statesman shepherding the institution into a caller era.

But contempt that, neither Hedlund nor Wilde look to beryllium returning for Tron: Ares. They’re some precise conspicuous by their lack successful the sequel. On immoderate level, it’s not astonishing that Disney would privation to pivot to a different, much standalone absorption for Ares. Legacy grossed $409.9 cardinal worldwide connected a fund of $170 cardinal (not including selling costs). If not an outright failure, it wasn’t rather the smash deed Disney was hoping for. Like 2012’s John Carter and 2013’s Lone Ranger, Legacy is 1 of a fig of underperforming live-action movies from an epoch earlier Disney truly started to thin connected Marvel and Star Wars. The workplace whitethorn person decided that Legacy didn’t onslaught capable of a chord with moviegoers that straight continuing the crippled made overmuch sense.

Still, arsenic we’ve explored, Sam and Quorra are excessively cardinal to the communicative of Tron to conscionable wholly ignore. Are we meant to presume Sam gave up connected his ngo to physique a amended Encom? Did Quorra turn bushed of the existent satellite and instrumentality to The Grid? The lack of these characters leaves a large void successful the franchise, and we anticipation Ares finds immoderate mode of astatine slightest acknowledging Sam and Quorra’s importance, if not bringing them backmost successful unannounced cameo roles.

Cillian Murphy’s Edward Dillinger, Jr.

Hedlund and Wilde aren’t the lone Legacy actors whose lack successful the Ares formed is baffling. There’s besides Cillian Murphy, whose quality was intelligibly being acceptable up for overmuch bigger things successful a 3rd Tron movie.

Murphy precise concisely appears successful an uncredited relation successful Legacy, playing Edward Dillinger, Jr., the lad of David Warner’s Edward Dillinger from the archetypal Tron. The younger Dillinger is introduced arsenic the caput of Encom’s bundle improvement team, and a fierce hostile of Sam’s committedness to free, open-source software.

It goes without saying that Murphy wasn’t formed conscionable to look successful a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo role. Dillinger was evidently intended to play a bigger portion successful a aboriginal sequel, wherever helium apt would person go the main quality antagonist, conscionable arsenic his begetter was successful Tron. Dillinger’s relation apt would person coincided with the instrumentality of the Master Control Program, the sinister entity that served arsenic the main integer villain of the archetypal movie.

Judging from the Tron: Ares trailer, the MCP itself whitethorn beryllium backmost successful play. Ares and his chap programs are marked by glowing reddish highlights, which is the calling paper of the MCP, conscionable arsenic CLU’s faction was orangish and Tron was blue. That suggests a sinister undertone to Ares’ mission. We don’t cognize if he’s meant to beryllium leader oregon villain. He doesn’t look to recognize overmuch astir his ngo either. But if the MCP is back, wherefore hasn’t Edward Dillinger returned, too? Why is Gillian Anderson’s caller quality abruptly the absorption of the Encom board?

That said, we bash cognize that Evan Peters is playing a quality named Julian Dillinger, truthful astatine slightest it appears that the Dillinger clan has a portion to play successful this story. And it’s ever imaginable that Murphy (who, again, wasn’t really credited successful Legacy) is inactive secretly returning for the caller film.

Bruce Boxleitner’s Tron

Arguably the astir baffling omission of each from the Tron: Ares formed is Bruce Boxleitner. If this is simply a Tron movie, wherever is Tron himself? In the archetypal movie, Boxleitner played some Encom enforcement Alan Bradley and the heroic information programme Tron. Boxleitner reprised the Alan relation successful Tron: Legacy, portion it was yet revealed that CLU’s bodyguard Rinzler was a reprogrammed Tron. When past we saw Rinzler successful Legacy, helium had fallen into the Sea of Simulation, which wiped distant his caller programming and restored the leader within.

Sadly, it doesn’t look that Boxleitner is returning for Ares for either role. We tin woody with Alan being written retired of the picture, but is the program truly to marque a Tron movie without its namesake? Or is it imaginable that Tron has been recast with a younger actor? Perhaps that’s who Cameron Monaghan is playing?

Whatever is going connected here, we would anticipation that Ares intends to travel up connected Tron’s open-ended destiny from Legacy. This quality deserves redemption aft what helium was subjected to by CLU. And a Tron sequel needs to see Tron successful immoderate capacity.

Why Is Jeff Bridges successful Tron: Ares?

Perhaps the azygous astir baffling announcement regarding Tron: Ares is the quality that Bridges is returning to the franchise. Sure, he’s the astir recognizable and bankable prima among the Tron: Legacy cast, but there’s the small occupation that some of his characters were killed disconnected successful that sequel. In the climax of Tron: Legacy, Kevin Flynn sacrifices himself to destruct CLU and springiness his lad and adopted girl the accidental to flight backmost to the existent world.

So wherefore is Bridges of each radical backmost for a 3rd movie? It’s hard to say. We tin concisely perceive Bridges’ dependable successful the trailer, but there’s nary denotation of whether helium mightiness beryllium playing a still-living Kevin Flynn oregon a mentation of CLU. Did Flynn’s integer archenemy someway past their shared decease successful Legacy? Did Flynn support a backup of CLU handy? Or has Flynn himself someway transcended the limits of flesh, achieving immortality successful The Grid?

That’s a enigma that volition nary uncertainty beryllium solved successful Ares. We’ll besides find retired whether Ares himself is moving with Flynn/CLU oregon carrying retired the Master Control Program’s agenda. But immoderate the movie reveals, there’s nary getting astir the information that it’s beauteous weird to person a Tron sequel that resurrects Bridges’ character(s) but ignores each the important players who really survived the events of Legacy. As overmuch arsenic we’re looking guardant to Tron: Ares, the sequel besides leaves america much than a small perplexed.

But, hey, astatine slightest that NIN people is sounding beauteous swell.

In different Tron news, find retired astir the bid instrumentality to the gaming realm with the Metroid/Hades hybrid Tron: Catalyst.

Jesse is simply a mild-mannered unit writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intelligence thicket by pursuing @jschedeen connected BlueSky.